Eagles struggle on home court

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on January 10, 2008 3:28 PM

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For Rosewood's boys and girls basketball teams, the chance to renew old rivalries in Class 1-A Carolina Conference play begins Friday night.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, both squads will have to do it on the heels of lopsided home losses to Arendell-Parrott Academy on Wednesday evening.

Rosewood's boys struggled to slow down a sharp-shooting Patriots squad all night. The Eagles' fourth-quarter rally was a little too late in a 55-41 defeat.

Parrott's girls allowed just five first-half points and cruised to a 47-21 victory.

In the boys' contest, the Eagles trimmed a 10-point, second-quarter deficit down to one with an 11-0 run capped by Bryan Lewis' 3-pointer. The Patriots responded with Courtney Killinger's jumper and Corey LaPrade's tip-in to lead 30-25 at the half. Rosewood (4-7 overall) couldn't get stops on the defensive end as Parrott scored 26 points off jump shots.

"They shot the ball extremely well from the floor," Eagles head coach Daniel Mitchell said. "At times we just didn't do a good job of closing out on the shooters and making them put the ball on the floor."

Holt Rains' layup to open the third quarter momentarily cut the margin to 30-27, but Parrott scored six of the quarter's final 10 points and led 41-30 entering the fourth.

Costly turnovers, the inability to bring down rebounds and getting to the free throw line just seven times all factored into what was a difficult night for the Eagles.

"It all seems to kind of snowball," Mitchell said. "When it's going bad, it's going bad. We gave up offensive rebounds at key times tonight and turned the ball over at key times tonight. The ball just didn't bounce our way."

Franklin Bowens' free throws midway through the fourth pushed the Patriots' lead to 48-32 before Rosewood attempted one last rally. Rains' jumper, Tyler Muntz's tip-in and Stephen McIntyre's 3-pointer had the Eagles down by nine with just over a minute to play.

Parrott sank five free throws and added a layup in the final moments to squelch Rosewood's comeback hopes. Rains finished with 12 points and McIntyre scored 10. Killinger led Parrott with 10 points.

"Ever since the break we just haven't been able to get it together and play consistently, we play in spurts," Mitchell said. "Hopefully we'll just learn from it. I know when we get into conference we'll see some more zone and we've got to try to improve our zone offense."

Missed layups, difficulty breaking a press, turnovers and struggles from the free throw line hampered the Eagles in the girls' contest.

An attempt to slow Parrott down with a 2-3 zone didn't work as the Patriots closed the first half on a 12-2 run and led 18-5 at the break.

Rosewood (4-7) mustered just two points in both the second and third quarters, while Parrott got layups with ease in both its half-court offense and in transition.

The Eagles tallied more points, 14, in the fourth quarter than it did the previous three quarters combined. Misha Chester, Christina Bruton, Haile Meadows and Paige Babb each finished four points.

Sheri Hill scored 12 points for Parrott.

Rosewood opens league play Friday at Ayden-Grifton.

Boys game

Parrott 17 13 11 14 -- 55

Rosewood 7 18 5 11 -- 41

PARROTT

Courtney Killinger 2 2 0-0 10, William Ellis 0 0 3-4 3, Corey LaPrade 2 0 2-4 6, Taylor Hawkins 2 1 1-3 8, Mike Jones 2 0 0-0 4, Tyler Whealy 4 0 0-1 8, Franklin Bowens 2 0 2-2 6, Hayden Ellis 2 0 0-0 4, David Smith 1 0 4-4 6. TOTALS -- 17 3 12-23 55.

ROSEWOOD (4-7)

Stephen McIntyre 1 2 2-2 10, Sean Cornman 1 0 0-0 2, Terence Toran 2 1 0-1 7, Bryan Lewis 0 1 0-0 3, Tyler Muntz 3 0 0-0 6, Jacques Raynor 0 0 1-2 1, Holt Rains 6 0 0-2 12. TOTALS -- 13 4 3-7 41.

Girls game

Parrott 6 12 10 19 -- 47

Rosewood 3 2 2 14 -- 21

PARROTT

Rebecca Hill 4 0 0-3 8, Sheri Hill 4 0 2-4 10, Kathryn Edwards 1 0 1-2 3, Allie Raul 4 0 2-4 10, Amanda Smith 1 0 0-0 2, MacKenzie Davis 1 0 0-0 2, Kelsey Riggs 3 0 0-0 6, Catie Clark 2 0 4-4 8. TOTALS -- 20 0 7-15 47.

ROSEWOOD (4-7)

April Pfeiffer 1 0 0-0 2, Misha Chester 2 0 0-0 4, Christina Bruton 2 0 0-0 4, Haile Meadows 1 0 2-4 4, Paige Babb 2 0 0-0 4, Shantal Johnson 1 0 1-4 3, Gabby Cornman 0 0 0-1 0, Brittany McGill 0 0 0-2 0, Melissa Hall 0 0 0-2 0. TOTALS -- 9 0 3-13 21.